


Hold my hand (just run with me)

by dobe_san



Series: Hold my hand [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends, Friends-ish, Humor, M/M, Pre-Relationship, SemiShiraWeek2020, Shirabu Kenjirou is a Little Shit, manhandling involved, mud games, possibly mutual pining-ish, semi is strong, so is Semi Eita, they just don't know it yet, they tried to one up tendou and kawanishi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dobe_san/pseuds/dobe_san
Summary: “…One of us needs to be carried,” Shirabu said bluntly. He watched Semi’s head turn over so quickly he wondered about possible whiplash.“No shit, Shirabu.”Or, Shirabu and Semi are paired up during their summer training camp, and together, they have to overcome some obstacles to avoid extra laps.----Day 2 of #SemiShiraweek2020.
Relationships: Semi Eita/Shirabu Kenjirou
Series: Hold my hand [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966867
Comments: 3
Kudos: 104
Collections: Semishira Week 2020





	Hold my hand (just run with me)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt(s): touch, clothes sharing, rivals/enemies to lovers, intimacy, mutual pining..........SORT OF /snorts. 
> 
> Ha ha hah. I tried........

It was only the first day of Shirabu’s second summer camp with the team, and it had already proven to be very different from their last.

The summer training camp last year had only involved regular indoor practice near a steep hill, where they did extreme endurance training. Shirabu thought that was the worst of it, since endurance training was the bane of his existence. 

Really, he should have seen the signs for something much worse.

First, they had been instructed to bring extra clothes, especially old ones that they wouldn’t mind chucking. That probably meant something that involved dirt and an unsalvageable mess.

Next, they arrived, closed to noon time, at a secluded campsite near the woods where cell reception was non-existent. Which was fine, until Shirabu realised in insight that this particular site had been chosen not for the large indoor gym next to the forest, but for its obstacle course that stretched miles and miles into the woods behind. 

Worst still, the members were _paired off_ the moment they alighted the bus. They were told that they were to do everything together with their partner for the next five days here.

And, of course, Shirabu just _had_ to be paired with one Semi Eita.

How this pairing thing even helped with team bonding, Shirabu did not know. As a fellow setter, he didn’t even need to play on the court at the same time as Semi.

From the looks that Semi sent over at the announcement, his senior had been equally surprised, and quite visibly annoyed.

It wasn’t that they didn’t get along. Their interactions had always been more argumentative for the sake of differences in styles, and that remained mostly on court during trainings.

But ever since last week, when Shirabu played on Ushijima’s team for all five practice sets against the neighbouring college team, the tension between him and Semi, both on and off court, in and out of trainings, had been through the roof.

Nonetheless, orders are orders. Got to follow them to survive. Even if that meant being Semi’s partner for this week.

So far, ‘doing everything together with your partner’ entailed sharing a room, and finding out that meals would only be served when both parties rock up at the same time. Which had already been an issue when Semi had taken longer than usual to unpack and find his old set of clothes for the afternoon activities.

“What do you mean you can’t find your shirt?” Shirabu side-eyed Semi from the door of their shared cabin. He wasn’t even attempting to hide his irritable mood because he had returned from the cafeteria just to wait for Semi to trek back there again for lunch as _partners_. 

“I swear I packed it. It even has a hole under the arm, so I was going to chuck it if it got too dirty.”

Another five minutes of Semi searching, Shirabu had had enough. His stomach was grumbling and Semi was nowhere near finding what he had wanted to find. Shirabu toed his shoes off, stomped over to his neat pile of clothes in his bag and pulled out an old tee. He then flung it onto Semi’s head.

“Hurry up, Semi-san, I’m fucking hungry.”

Semi must have been, too, because he relented without any remarks about disrespect, and even muttered a disgruntled thanks before stripping. As soon as Shirabu saw skin and abs, he quickly averted his gaze and focused instead on putting his shoes on again.

It was going to be a long few days, he sighed.

As if having a late and hurried meal wasn’t bad enough, it was only the first afternoon of the five-day camp, and they were already in the midst of some silly flag hunt after their post-lunch team meeting. The pairs had been told that they needed to collect the right coloured flags at different stations, and complete the obstacles at the station together to do so.

“Some stations have your flag, and others don’t,” Coach Akira explained. “Just make sure to get five flags and head back. It’s meant to be a speed test, not just endurance. The last pair to return has to run extra laps and will definitely be the last to the showers!”

The aim of the activity made sense, Shirabu initially thought. Both he and Semi were probably competitive enough to participate properly, and they could just find their designated yellow flags and make their way back together quickly.

But Coach also had a funny rule:

“Only one of you can get dirty.”

At the time, Shirabu remembered raising his eyebrow and wondering what the hell that meant. But now, as he eyed his frustrated partner pacing the perimeter of a small, muddy river, it finally dawned upon him what Coach Akira had intended when he said that.

“Oh, for goodness sake, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Semi cried.

Staring at the murky waters right in front of them, Shirabu found himself agreeing. It was one of the rare times that they had shared an opinion ever since the start of this training camp.

They had already collected three flags, but none of those obstacles involved getting dirty. That was until they faced this narrow stretch of stagnant brown waters with no ways around it but through. It spanned only about seven to eight metres across, so it probably wasn’t that deep.

But still, if one of them wanted to remain clean till the end of five flags, that meant that…

“…One of us needs to be carried,” Shirabu said bluntly. He watched Semi’s head turn over so quickly he wondered about possible whiplash.

“No shit, Shirabu,” Semi spat, waving the yellow flags in his hand in a motion that screamed ‘duh’.

Shirabu thought that his senior had been even more pissy that usual, the standard nagging having almost more bite than bark to it. Shirabu wondered what crawled up his ass and died.

It couldn’t just be Shirabu’s shirt that he now wore, could it? Shirabu had held his tongue earlier in favour of eating, when the other team mates gave Semi shit about it during lunch. Shirabu himself had tried not to pay too much attention to how the over-washed shirt stretched across Semi’s chest, a size too small on his larger frame.

More plausibly, Shirabu mused, it was the elephant in the room about Shirabu’s secured position in first string. It had yet to be made official, but Coach Washijou never did anything that didn’t have a purpose. And Shirabu’s consistent presence on Ushijima’s practice team last week had a clear and obvious purpose.

Just at that moment, there was some rustling in the bushes nearby and a familiar red head quickly came bursting into view.

“Hi Semisemi! Shirabu! This is so much fun!” Tendou exclaimed. “I just saw Reon and Wakatoshi-kun fumbling to do the leopard crawl under the benches to get their flag. Their asses are simply too big!”

Behind him, Taichi was jogging with their blue flags. He smirked at Tendou’s comment, evidently having enjoyed that interesting sight as well.

Shirabu thought that the two must have come from a different route, because Semi and himself hadn’t done any leopard crawls, and neither Tendou nor Taichi had burns on their legs like Shirabu did from climbing rope; Semi had belayed him from the ground earlier as he scaled some high structure to reach their flag.

But, much to Shirabu’s delight, at least that had earned him and Semi one more flag than Tendou and Taichi.

At this moment, Taichi had slowed to a walk and was heading towards him. His tall friend raised an eyebrow and nodded subtly in Semi’s direction.

“What?” Shirabu tiled his chin. 

Taichi shrugged, looking at Semi, then beyond the waters to the path clearly outlined on the opposite side. Shirabu looked over as well, spying the two flags in the bushes.

“You ready to hang onto him for dear life?” Taichi asked with a nonchalant expression, but Shirabu knew his friend well enough to notice the glint in his eye.

“Screw you. Let’s see _you_ try to carry Tendou-san across.”

“Who said he’s doing any carrying?” Tendou grinned while he rolled up his already short sleeves. “I’m far heavier and stronger than I look, little Shirabu.”

Shirabu raised his eyebrow at the implications. From the side, Semi was just glaring at them all.

Taichi shrugged again, obviously not caring that he was about to be carried across the water.

After some quick discussions between the two, Taichi jumped up onto Tendou’s back, spindly arms and legs wrapping around Tendou’s torso. Based on Tendou’s faltering stance, Taichi looked like he weighed a little heavier than Tendou had expected, but it was still manageable.

“Here we go!” Tendou yelled out loud with gusto before sinking into the muddy river. The slushy brown waters came up just below his hips, just shy of touching Taichi’s shoes. Shirabu watched in morbid fascination as the two made their way across in slow and awkward strides.

In his distraction, Semi had closed the distance and suddenly shoved their yellow flags into Shirabu’s chest.

“We can’t let them win,” he said to Shirabu with a scowl. His cheeks were flushed in the afternoon heat, and the beads of perspiration trickling down his temples shouldn’t have made Shirabu stare, but it did.

He quickly shook his head to clear his mind. 

“I’m not getting on your back, Semi-san,” he retorted.

Semi rolled his eyes, a hand on his hip.

“Stop being stubborn. You obviously can’t carry me.”

“I sure can try.”

Shirabu knew better than to argue, especially if he wanted to get this over and done with. It was obvious that he was going to be the one being carried. He was both shorter and smaller than Semi, after all.

But he didn’t want to seem that eager to, as Taichi said, _cling onto_ Semi _for dear life._

“For goodness sake, Shirabu,” Semi groaned, “Just stop fighting. You don’t have to win at everything.”

Shirabu was sure Semi wasn’t referring to this obstacle course. With that, he felt even more riled up.

“What do you mean ‘ _win at everything’_. I’m not trying to win _anything_.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

By then, Tendou had already made it almost across the narrow river. After a few more metres, he turned around to drop Taichi on edge, and quickly spun back around to balance himself on his arms, catching his breath. Taichi helped pull him out of the river, showing Tendou’s entire lower half caked in mud.

Shirabu grimaced.

Next to him, he could feel Semi radiating waves of frustration. That made Shirabu close his eyes and heave a sigh. His competitive streak and his need for cleanliness allowed him some clarity in this situation. He didn’t want to do extra laps later, and he sure as hell did not want to be the last to have a shower.

“Fine,” he replied soon after.

“What?”

“I said fine, let’s go.” Shirabu opened his eyes and stared. Semi seemed to have gotten the message.

“Fine,” Semi parroted. He yanked Shirabu by the wrist and pulled them towards the river. They stopped at a gentle slope down, the same one that Tendou had used.

Shirabu was just about to ask how they were doing this, when suddenly, Semi tugged him close till they were almost chest to chest.

Before Shirabu could breathe another word, Semi bent one knee in a lowered stance, body leaning forward like he was about to smash his opposite shoulder into Shirabu’s stomach. He quickly lifted Shirabu by the waist as he straightened up, flinging Shirabu onto his shoulder.

“Shit, you’re heavy!” Semi grunted.

Shirabu flailed.

“What the hell, Semi-san!”

Semi grabbed Shirabu’s arm closest to his front to hang it over his other shoulder. Then, Semi hooked his own elbow across Shirabu’s thighs to spread Shirabu’s weight across his shoulder blades like he was wearing a scarf around his neck. Shirabu soon found himself hanging like the horizontal line of the letter ‘t’. 

He was mortified.

Before he could yell again, Semi, again with no warning, started walking them into the river.

On the other side, Tendou’s loud cackling echoed. 

“Look at them, Taichi!”

“Feet up, Shirabu!” Semi suddenly said. His hand tapped the back of Shirabu’s thighs, “Come on, watch your shoes!”

Shirabu bent his knees and brought his crossed ankles up immediately. His grabbed Semi’s (or his) shirt with one hand for some purchase, his other flag hand also tight in a fist.

“Why the fuck can’t you just do a piggy back like Tendou-san?!” He cried.

“I’m not tall enough to get your legs out of the water, you brat! And this wouldn’t hurt my back!”

“I could have just sat on your shoulders!”

“Isn’t this the same?!”

“God damn it, I wish I had my phone!” Tendou screeched amidst his guffaws. Shirabu could hear Taichi laughing too.

“Fuck you!” he yelled back at the two.

“Goodness, Shirabu, you need a diet!” Semi complained. Shirabu contemplated hitting him on the back, but did not want to risk being flung into the dirty water.

“Wow, Semisemi is so strong!” Tendou clapped. His voice was getting closer, meaning they were making decent progress.

Belatedly, Shirabu realised that Semi really _was_ strong. They were making their way across in quick motions, strides seemingly larger and more stable than Tendou’s earlier ones. It probably helped that this shoulder carry had taken some weight off Semi’s lower back, unlike the position that Taichi took earlier with Tendou hunching over.

Shirabu looked up behind, and saw the shore from where they started getting further and further away. They had long passed the halfway mark, when Semi suddenly whispered under his breath.

“Shirabu.”

“What.”

“The idiots haven’t taken their flag.”

Shirabu turned his head awkwardly to look from under Semi’s arm. Everything was upside down, but Shirabu was a seasoned setter, used to visually stimulating angles and tossing with his neck and back arched from the opposite end of the court after a botched receive.

He squinted ahead and sure enough, Tendou and Taichi were squatting on the grassy shore, still pointing at them and having some silly inside joke. Behind them in the far-left corner, was one blue and one yellow flag sticking out from the bushes under a big tree, perfectly clean and untouched.

“When I drop you on land,” Semi continued, panting a little now from the exertion, “You make a run for it and fling the blue one into the mud.”

Shirabu actually laughed. And that got Semi annoyed. 

“Why the hell are you laughing?” he asked Shirabu in a harsh whisper. 

Shirabu shook his head and laughed again.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this,” he grinned, “But good plan, I like it.”

This time, he _felt_ Semi chuckle in return.

“It might hurt, though,” Semi warned, “You might scrape your knees and shit.”

Shirabu didn’t care.

“Whatever, just do it, Semi-san. I want to make them eat shit.”

“Okay, okay. Ready? We’re almost there.”

“Yes,” Shirabu answered.

“How does it feel to be manhandled, Shirabu?” Tendou clapped again. His loud voice was almost in earshot, and Shirabu tensed his muscles to get ready. He held his breath as he felt Semi stop to lower his body. To his side, Semi started counting.

“Okay, one, two…”

“Dude, you really clung onto him for dear life,” Taichis teased, sounding really close by now.

“…three!” Semi shouted. “Go, Shirabu, now!”

Shirabu felt himself get flung up and over like a sack of potatoes, and he landed squarely onto Taichi. His friend groaned loudly as they collapsed into a messy heap of limbs.

But quickly, with a clear agenda in mind, Shirabu scrambled to get up. He accidentally elbowed Taichi in the process, but had no time to pay much attention for he felt a vice grip on his wrist.

“Don’t you dare, Shirabu!” Tendou hollered fiercely now. It was obvious that their resident guess monster had caught on to their plan.

Shirabu tugged his arm in an attempt to shake him off, and slowly, Tendou’s grip slipped down his fingers. Shirabu saw from the corner of his eye that Semi had grabbed onto Tendou’s ankle.

Almost as quickly as chasing the third touch of a volleyball rally, Shirabu dashed towards the flags. He grabbed both of them and quickly ran back to the edge of the muddy waters. Clutching all of his and Semi’s yellow flags in one hand, he was about to fling the blue one all the way to the middle of the river, but stopped himself.

Thinking twice, he then sprinted a good distance alongside the body of water, dropped the other team’s flag on a faraway sloped edge just above the mud, and ran back to where Semi was pushing himself up onto the grass.

“No!” Tendou wailed. The red head ran past Shirabu to head towards the spot, just as Semi grabbed Shirabu’s free hand and tugged him towards the forest. 

“Go, go, go!”

Shirabu got his legs working as they ran and ran, hand in hand, leaving their team mates behind in the dust.

It was only a long winding route later that they reached a grassy, unshaded clearing. There, they caught sight of something yellow stuck under a series of benches pushed together, flag end against a stone wall.

Together, they flopped onto the grass, catching their breaths. Semi finally let go of his hand, and Shirabu couldn’t help but snort at what had just transpired.

“Idiots,” he muttered, breathless.

“Agreed,” Semi replied, sounding terribly winded as well. “You were kind, though. I would’ve just thrown it right smack in the middle of the river.”

Shirabu snorted again. He turned over to look at Semi, who was staring back at him, pleased and seemingly proud, even.

“See, the other teams left our flag there too,” Shirabu replied, nudging his chin towards the bench. “I’m civil enough not to do them dirty like that.”

Semi laughed again. They stayed silent, staring up at the clouds for a bit. After a while, Semi spoke again.

“Hey, Tendou’s right. I _am_ strong.”

Shirabu scoffed, but didn’t deny it.

“Where the hell did you learn to carry and fling people around like that?”

“I took judo classes when I was younger.”

Right.

Though impressed, Shirabu still stood his ground.

“If you ever try to do that to me again,” he grumbled, “I will maim you.”

With a loud huff that sounded more like a chuckle, Semi sat up and looked down at him with an amused smile.

“Whatever, you ungrateful brat. Come on, let’s grab the last flag.”

In the end, they made it back second-last, just seconds before Taichi and Tendou. The two tall blockers did a decent job, considering they were one flag behind, and had their predicament made worse by Semi and Shirabu’s mischievous antics. When the two finally realised that they had come in last, they threw Shirabu and Semi their meanest glares.

Hands on his knees, Shirabu wheezed and looked away. Exhaustion was squeezing his chest with every exhale. He knew he and Semi got to be on their guard from the two goblins for the remaining days of the camp, especially if there were other races like the one today.

But for now, Shirabu relished in victory as Taichi and Tendou headed off for their extra laps.

He looked over to Semi who was hunched over in a stance mirroring his. His entire body was muddy, like a dog that had just frolicked in the dirt. 

As though sensing his gaze, Semi turned to look at him.

“You really always win, Shirabu,” Semi commented.

Shirabu rolled his eyes in disbelief. Jeez, after all they had been through today.

“Please, you won too, Semi-san.”

At that, a smirk grew on Semi’s face.

“Yeah, I did.”

Despite the streak of mud marring Semi’s cheek, Shirabu was surprised to find himself thinking how attractive the guy was.

“Maybe it’s not that bad,” Semi continued, still wearing his handsome smile. _What_ exactly was not bad, he didn’t specify, but Shirabu had an inkling.

“Sure,” he told Semi, “but I wasn’t joking when I said I’m not letting you carry me again.” 

Semi shook his head and let out another tired chuckle.

“Okay, Shirabu. You can carry me next time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know I stretched the prompts a little, and I’m sorry if they didn’t quite fit this fic in the way you expected. 
> 
> But I hope you had fun, because this is the most fun I’ve had among all the fics I wrote for SemiShira week! 
> 
> PS: I live for Semi manhandling a tiny Shirabu. It'll appear again in another fic later this week! ;)


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